Ninety years of dedicated support for England’s 11,000 rural communities is under threat after the Government warned it may withdraw funding from the ACRE Network.
This nationwide Network of rural community councils carries out crucial work to help our communities thrive.
It funds, leads or enables thousands of projects to help people tackle the challenges they face – from lack of affordable homes, broadband or public transport to supporting the young, the elderly and the most vulnerable in our society.
It is the only Network that provides advice to the 80,000 volunteers who keep England’s 10,000 village halls alive.
Without the Network's support, communities will be less resilient, services will be lost and more people will become lonely and isolated.
We call on Defra not to withdraw funding from the ACRE Network. To pull it now would fracture the Network, undermine years of investment and leave the most vulnerable in rural areas with nowhere to go.
The epetition is here
DCLG has issued a 20 page Plain English guide to the Planning System
It covers all the main basics:
- the purpose of the planning system
- key decision takers: councillors, officers, Secretary of State, Planning Inspectorate
- National Planning Policy
- Nationally significant infrastructure projects
- Strategic planning, duty to cooperate
- Local Plans (flow diagram)
- Neighbourhood planning (flow diagram)
- Contributions and community benefits
- Permitted development rights
- Obtaining planning development (flow diagram)
- Planning enforcement
- Planning appeals
NALC has issued a Financial Topic Note F12-14
If your council has any workers enrolled in the Local Government Pension Scheme please read this briefing. It is common knowledge that there is a funding deficit in the LGPS. NALC will when the opportunity arises take it up with the relevant government departments and officials.
At present LGPS Actuaries are tackling the deficits in two ways:
- progressive increases in employers funding percentages or
- retaining constant employers percentages but adding a lump sum specifically targeted at reducing the deficit
The briefing goes on to explain - Current Reporting and Accounting Requirements, the possible effect of the introduction of Compulsory Workplace Pensions and the need to keep the situation under close and constant review.
The Department for Communities and Local Government has confirmed that the appropriate sum for parish councils for the purposes of section 137(4) (a) of the Local Government Act 1972 (“1972 Act”) for 2015-2016 is £7.36.
This is the amount that results from increasing the amount of 2014-15 (£7.20) by the percentage increase in the retail index between September 2013 and September 2014 (of 2.26%), in accordance with Schedule 12B to the Act.
On 16th December the coalition parties - Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, published a command paper on Implications for Devolution in England. It is not a cross-party paper and does not contain ideas from the Labour Party.
The Command Paper was announced by Leader of the Commons William Hague in an oral statement to MPs and sets out proposals for responding to the implications of devolution for England after the Scottish Independence referendum and contains separate proposals from each of the coalition parties on how best to address these issues.
The paper includes:
- How powers have been passed to the devolved administrations so far;
- What the Coalition Government has done to transfer powers from central government to local communities in England;
- Options for further devolution and decentralisation;
- The impact of the devolution landscape for the Westminster Parliament, in particular the West Lothian Question and the issues that would need to be considered in designing a way forward;
- How the Coalition Parties might respond to these challenges in the next Parliament.
Conservative Party key points and proposals include:
- power should be decentralised down to the lowest appropriate level – down from Europe, down from Whitehall, to councils, to community groups and to individual taxpayers: giving power to the people
- we wish to continue with the empowerment of neighbourhoods and parishes in England, not least through a huge further increase in neighbourhood planning
- there should be greater use of direct democracy, such as allowing local people to hold local referendums on local issues
- extend and strengthen the transparency and accountability and help support the press and public in holding local politicians to account
- localism must not be a way of imposing new taxes: the English taxpayer already pays too much tax. Instead, we wish to strengthen the fiscal incentives councils have to support enterprise and growth -- for example, by further extending the local retention of business rates
- introducing English Votes for English Laws, or English and Welsh Votes for English and Welsh Laws, is crucial and cannot be ignored any longer, options include Reformed consideration of Bills at all stages, Reformed Amending Stages of Bills and Reformed Committee Stage and Legislative Consent Motions.
Liberal Democrat Party key points and proposals include:
- we are guided by the twin principles of subsidiarity and accountability, as we believe people can best hold politicians to account if those elected locally are in charge. And we also believe that taking decisions at a lower level means better decision-making, more responsive public services and greater value for money
- we would deliver this through an “English Devolution Enabling Bill” and Liberal Democrats would introduce legislation in the next Parliament which would empower local areas within England
- the “English Devolution Enabling Bill” would provide for areas to be able to demand from Westminster and Whitehall the powers that they want from a menu of options
- in order to successfully claim the powers they wished, a given area would need to demonstrate it met tests around geography / population, competence, local democratic mandate, a fair electoral system and a transparent and accountable governance structure
- it is right that any new stage in the Westminster legislative process which would limit the involvement of MPs to those from English constituencies should operate on the same fair basis
- the time is right for a Constitutional Convention to discuss the relationship between the constituent parts of the UK and also to explore the values and principles which bind us together
- a Constitutional Convention should be composed of representatives of the political parties, academia, civic society and members of the public. The Convention should be led by an independent Chair agreed by the leaders of the three main political parties. The remit of the Convention should be decided by parliament through legislation, if possible on a cross party basis.
If you would like to respond to these proposals the contact details are on page 33 of the Command Paper.
DCLG are soliciting recommendations for the New Year 2016 Honours List. They we are happy to accept honours nominations at any time, but to be included for consideration in the New Year 2016 honours round, citations are needed by 10am Monday 9th March.
DCLG are looking for people who may be involved in areas such as;
- Community empowerment - community leaders and people who have mobilised their community and put power into people's hands e.g. by leading community campaigns, fund raising for, or taking ownership of community assets such as sports centres, meeting places and pubs.
- Public service reform - those in public services who have established and delivered improved ways of delivering public services e.g. setting up an employee owned mutual; parents who have come together to set up a free school.
- Social action - people volunteering in their local communities, offering up their skills, time and expertise to local charities, community groups and neighbours; philanthropists who are making a difference to our society.
DCLG are only able to consider candidates who work in areas covered by its remit. They are unable to process nominations for candidates whose achievements fall under another department’s policy responsibility; however they will work with you to establish the correct department to submit your nominations to.
There is a strong message from the Prime Minister that if the honours system is to fulfil its role and to remain credible and respected, it needs to be seen to recognise the best from across the diversity of British society today. That can only be achieved if there is a wide range of top quality candidates, nominated from a rich variety of sources.
There has been disproportionate shortfall in the number of female candidates. DCLG therefore ask you to look particularly for good female candidates and to identify good senior female nominations where possible.
We also need to identify good quality candidates at all levels from under-represented black and ethnic minority communities. We would ask you to give careful thought to achieving diversity of candidates across the board including people with disabilities and ensure that this is noted on the citation form.
For more information read DCLG Honours: How to write a citation Nominations relating to DCLG should be sent by e-mail to Julian.matthews@communities.gsi.gov.uk 10am Monday 9th March 2015.
As the year draws to a close it is a good opportunity in this last briefing to reflect on topical employment matters at the end of 2014 and to look forward to legal changes anticipated in 2015.
The briefing covers
- National Pay Award
- Holiday Pay and Overtime ruling
- Pensions auto-enrolment
- Vaping
- Employment Law timetable for 2015
The full briefing is on the BALC website here.
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